My Faithful Friend
by VampsOnCrack
Summary: When something goes wrong on a routine mission, the only thing keeping Vala alive is Daniel, but how long can he keep it together?
1. Present day I

_This is just an idea i had during a Cellular Metabolism lecture (because God it's boring), hopefully I'll stick with it and write more than just this chapter. Enjoy !_

Chapter 1/Prologue

Daniel was woken by the smell of fresh coffee. He lifted his head off his folded arms and looked around the room blearily for the source of the smell, his glasses falling back onto his nose in a crooked fashion from where they'd been pushed up onto his forehead.

"Here, I've just made a fresh pot" Sam said, pushing a steaming mug into Daniel's already outstretched hand.

"Thanks" he replied, his voice raspy from disuse. The steam rising from the mug fogged up his glasses, and he rubbed them clear before taking a long gulp of the drink that had become vital to his very existence, even more so than usual over the past few weeks.

Sam pulled up a chair and sat next to Daniel, cupping her own mug in her hands. She was filthy, with dirt smeared across her face, and clothes that obviously hadn't been washed in days.

"How was P29-7JT?" Daniel asked, turning to his friend.

"Uneventful. Pretty much just open space as far as the eye can see, some remnants of civilisation, but long since gone and not technologically advanced enough to be 'interesting'. You'd have liked it. You should have come, it doesn't feel right without you there"

"I would have, but you know…" he averted his gaze from her, preferring to stare straight ahead.

The pair sat in silence, sipping their coffees. What was usually a casual, relaxing activity for them was steeped in tension, almost palpable. While the actions were similar, the feeling was different this time.

"How's she doing?" Sam inquired.

"Same as usual." Daniel sighed, reaching forward to take the hand lying on the bed in front of him into his own, and grasping tightly. "I was convinced I felt her squeeze my hand a few hours ago. I called Carolyn in, she ran some tests, but of course it was nothing. Just my imagination" He hung his head and made a noise somewhere between a sob and a burst of laughter.

"I'm going crazy down here, Sam. I can feel it."

"Leave then." She suggested "Take a break. Go topside and get some rest, I'll stay here and sit with her while you-"

"I can't leave her!" He shouted incredulously, staring at Sam as if she were the crazy one.

"I promised her I wouldn't leave, I swore it to her."

"Just in order for you to rest a bit. She won't even know you've gone." Sam tried to reason.

"I'm not leaving her!" He insisted.

"But Daniel, it's been weeks! The chances of her recovering have gone down to one in-"

"NO!" He shouted.

A horrid silence fell between the two as they stared each other down. Sam relented first, sighing and shaking her head.

"Daniel, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to get Dr. Lam involved. I just think that-"

"GET OUT! JUST GET OUT!" He screamed at her, face twisting in anger. He was more angry than she had ever seen him. With no hesitation she got up from her seat and skittered out of the room.

Sam shut the door to the isolation room behind her and leant against it, exhaling deeply, feeling exhausted by the short interaction. Vala hadn't woken up in three weeks, and she likely never would again. If only Daniel would accept it.


	2. Eight weeks ago

_Okay so this came a whole week after the first chapter (who'd have thought it would take me a week to write 500 words). Take care to read the "timestamp" at the start of each chapter, it'll make reading it more understandable._

 _P.S. I seem to do my best writing late at night, but not my best proofreading, sorry in advance for any mistakes._

 _Enjoy!_

Chapter 2

 _2 months ago…_

The gate on P3C-677 whooshed into life, cutting through the silence of the planet and bringing light to it's surroundings, causing the trees to bend and the animals to flee. Through the sparkling event horizon ran an excited woman, dragging with her a disgruntled looking man by the arm, shortly followed by three additional people.

"Vala, calm down!" shouted Daniel, pulling back against Vala's hold in an attempt to slow her down.

"But Daniel, this is Callabrixa! I haven't been here since I was a child, before my mother died. It's such a magical place, with a tremendous spiral city and such interesting people, you'll love it! Plus we're just in time for their autumn harvest festival!"

"That doesn't mean you have to tear my off to get there!" Daniel exclaimed.

Colonel Cam Mitchell rolled his eyes at the interaction between the two, it was a scene that played out far too often on their missions. He scanned their surroundings, looking slightly confused.

"Well it doesn't look like there's a spiral city 'round here, Princess." Cam announced. "Looks like forest to me"

Vala stopped suddenly and looked around, causing Daniel to ram into her. She huffed at him and turned to the rest of the group.

"Well it wasn't like this before, I can tell you that. But the city's a couple of miles from the 'Gate, so maybe the forest just grew since then. Come on Daniel!" She grabbed Daniel's hand and pulled him along again, much to his displeasure. The rest of the team followed at a slightly more leisurely pace.

"Do you think she'll ever calm down?" Sam asked, turning to Mitchell.

"I doubt it. Looks like she'll be running around causing trouble even when she's 90."

"Indeed. It would seem that ValaMalDoran will always be as energetic as she has always been" Teal'c chimed in, looking onwards at the silhouette of the pair, lighted only by their flashlights and the moonlight that filtered through the trees as they disappeared into the forest.

"Besides, if she does ever calm down Daniel will get bored" Cam added jokily, making Sam giggle and Teal'c's lips twitch upwards. It was common knowledge among all at the SGC that Daniel and Vala shared a special bond, him being the only person who could put up with her, as well as being the only one she trusted fully and completely.

"So… On a scale of one to ten, how couple-y are they now? Because in my opinion they definitely went from a seven to an eight!" Sam proposed, feeling mischievous and chatty.

"Screw couple-y, they might as well be married!" Mitchell chuckled.

"Perhaps, but Vala Jackson doesn't sound right. It's too normal for her"

"I agree with ColonelCarter. The name does not convey the uniqueness that is such of ValaMalDoran" Teal'c interjected. Sam and Mitchell shared a look of smugness. Teal'c was far more prone to gabbing than people thought.

"What about Daniel Mal Doran then?" Cam suggested, almost tripping over a root in the dark of the night.

"Perfect" Sam concurred happily.

Their conspiring was interrupted by the crackle of Mitchell's radio coming to life.

"Hey Mitchell, come here" Daniel's voice came through the speaker.

"Okay, where is 'here?" Mitchell asked.

"North by northwest. We weren't that far away from you, it shouldn't take long. You need to see this."

Cam shot Sam a puzzled look and they made their in the direction Daniel said. They soon found the pair on the edge of a cliff, looking downwards.

"What did you call us fo-" Mitchell's question was cut short by the view in front of him. At the bottom of the 300-foot cliff a majestic city was spread out for what seemed like miles. There were spires that were almost as tall as the cliff itself, with a maze of streets winding in between the buildings. However, the view was tarnished by the obvious emptiness of the place. There was no light emanating from any of the buildings, no sounds of any sort. A ghost town.

Vala broke the silence that had fallen over the group.

"This city used to be home to hundreds of thousands of people. Millions, even. The hubbub of daily life meant that the city was never quiet, never dark, always thriving and buzzing with life. What could have happened to it?"

She shivered, suddenly feeling the cold of the night for the first time. Daniel automatically reached out and put his arm around her, offering her warmth as well as comfort.

"Well we won't know unless we find out, will we? Come on, let's go check it out." Mitchell ordered, turning back to find a way down to the city. One by one they all turned away, with Vala staying the longest.

* * *

The silence was even louder in person, Vala thought as they entered the city through the northern entrance, passing underneath an impressive stone archway. The whole city was cold and uninviting, a hollow shell of the city she'd visited as a child. The spires looked sharp and threatening, not elegant and majestic as she remembered. The broad streets made her feel exposed and vulnerable. She didn't like this place at all.

The wind blew stronger, making her curl into herself to protect herself from the cold. She couldn't recall it ever being this cold, not even during the winter months. Yet another puzzling thing about the planet.

Her eyes wandered the scene around her, looking for clues as to what had happened to cause such emptiness. The shops and street-market stalls were all boarded up, the living spaces looked abandoned, and even the streetlights had been powered down. It looked more and more to Vala like the city had been deliberately vacated, almost evacuated.

Sweeping the road with her eyes, she noticed something in the corner of her eye next to a disposal tube, the planet's equivalent of a trashcan-cum-office shredder. A Thing, hidden in the darkness. Unmoving, with no discernable shape, and most definitely definitely out of place.

She walked towards the lump nervously, straying away from her team, trying to make out what it was. It was only once she was a mere seven feet away that she could see arms, legs, and eventually a head, all constricted and contorting into obscene poses. She gasped but didn't stop moving forward, until her feet were only inches from a clenched hand, fingers digging into the palm so hard that dried blood could be seen on the ground underneath it.

She knelt down next to the body, wanting to get a better view of its face. It was so mangled that it was impossible to determine what gender it was, only the expression it wore: pure unfiltered agony. The skin was hanging off the bones that lay underneath, grey and decomposing. They must have died weeks ago, she thought.

Her hand reached out without her accord as if entranced, fingers poised to touch the flaked skin of the wrist in front of her, when another hand grabbed her own, startling her.

"Don't touch, you don't know what killed them." Mitchell said, pulling her hand back.

"Ye-yes, of course" Vala stuttered, coming back to her senses. "I don't know what I was doing"

"Come on, we're getting out of here." Mitchell decided, turning back towards the entrance through which they came. "This place gives me the creeps"

Vala nodded in agreement, shuffling to get up off her knees. As she put all her weight onto her right leg she experienced a muscle spasm, and fell back onto her rear, her body colliding with the one on the ground. She recoiled and quickly stood up, dusting herself off and shivering at the thought of touching the corpse. Looking around for her team she noticed them already heading back towards the archway with only Daniel hanging back, watching and waiting for her. She trotted over to him and together they hurried to rejoin the group, anxious to get out of the town that scared them so much.


	3. Present day II

_I wrote this whilst listening to a few songs:_

 _Avi Kaplan & Peter Hollens' cover of Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair_

 _Disturbed's version of Sound Of Silence_

 _Amy Lee's cover of Sally's Song_

 _I like telling you what I listen to when I write, because sometimes it can help set the tone of the chapter. Enjoy!_

Chapter 3

 _Present day_

The clock ticked loudly in the isolation room. Coupled with the constant beeping of the various machines that Vala was attached to, the noise provided Daniel with something other than pure silence.

Nothing had changed since Sam's visit three days before. Vala lay on the bed, unconscious, and Daniel stayed by her side, an unmoving presence. He only ate when food was brought to him, only slept in the chair next to her bed, the only time he left the room at all was for bathroom breaks. No one had been since apart from the nurses and doctors that came to check her vital signs every few hours. Some tried to make light conversation, some tried to convince him to take a break, and some never said anything. They were the ones that Daniel like the best.

Doctor Carolyn Lam was the exception of course. She had a sort of calming aura that Daniel always appreciated. She brought flowers sometimes, to brighten up the dark room so she said. Always daisies, which Daniel found ironic, but she claimed they were Vala's favorite. The doctor had developed a special bond with the alien. The Air Force was still very much a boy's club, and so with so little women around it isn't surprising that those who worked at the mountain to make firm friendships.

She didn't say much, only asked him if he needed anything, took over for him on his bathroom breaks -he didn't want Vala to be alone for even a second- and sometimes she sat with him, in silence, watching over her friend and patient. But even she hadn't been in to see her in the past few days, delegating the task one of the nurses. Daniel had heard that SG-4 had contracted some sort of alien flu, and she was trying to find some sort of antibiotic treatment to cure them.

Daniel could feel sleep creeping up on him, so he leaned back into his chair, leaving only his hand holding Vala's. Her face was the last thing he saw before he sank into darkness.

* * *

"Why do you stay here, Daniel?" The voice that woke him was one that he could have picked out in a crowded room, his ears were so finely tuned to it. The strange australian-english lilt, the softness with which she said his name was just so unmistakably her.

"Because you need me" He answered sitting up, unfazed.

"I'm unconscious, I don't even know that you're here." She said, walking around from behind him to the other side of the bed, where he could see her fully. She was as he remembered her, vibrant and glowing, not as she had been over the course of the last month, pale and grey, wasting away before his very eyes.

"That doesn't mean that you don't need me"

She chuckled, leaning against the side of the bed that held her own body.

"I'll always need you, Darling. However, my fate is not decided on whether you're here or not"

"How would you know? You're not really here, you're just a figment of my imagination" he countered.

"Maybe so, but that doesn't mean I'm not right. You're falling to bits down here, you need sunlight on your face, a proper meal in your belly and a good night's sleep."

"I'll do all that when you wake up"

"Come on, at least get up and stretch your legs a bit" She started to jog on the spot energetically "I recommend a vigorous jog around the mountain, good for the health!"

Daniel sunk further into his seat, not breaking eye contact with Vala, making her huff.

"You can't say no to me, I'm your subconscious!" She stomped her foot on the ground in her usual fashion.

"I can and I will" He put his hands behind his head in an act of defiance. She responded by putting her own hands on her hips and walking around until she was in front of him, leaning against the mattress of the bed.

"Well, I'm going nowhere" Her arms crossed over her stomach, and she entered a staring contest with him. They stayed that way for several minutes, neither of them giving up, so Vala decided to up her game.

"Daniel"

A second's pause.

"Daniel"

Another second.

"Daniel!" She shouted. He broke eye contact and threw his hands up in the air.

"Ugh, how is it you can be in my mind and STILL be so frustrating?" He exclaimed, to which she simply shrugged and flashed another smile.

"It's a gift, darling."

He sighed and finally stood up from his chair and started pacing around the room, hands rubbing his face.

"I'm arguing with my own subconscious, now I know I'm definitely going crazy" He laughed, his voice devoid of any actual humour.

"Well then why won't you just get out of this room, just for a day?"

"Because I know that if the positions were reversed, you wouldn't leave me" He looked straight into her eyes, his face finally showing the pain he felt inside rather than just his external shell of stubbornness and anger.

"If I was the one lying in that bed" He carried on "You wouldn't abandon le, you would never leave my side until I was awake and complaining at you for something or other. We're as close to family as either one of us has, and I'm not letting you fight your battle alone."

She looked at him fondly, and slowly got closer and closer until she was standing opposite him. She lifted her hand and touched his face, although Daniel could only see it and not feel it.

"Oh, my Daniel. What are we going to do with you?"

He closed his eyes, willing himself to feel the warmth of a hand on his cheek. When he opened them again, she was gone, the only version of her left being the original, lying on a gurney fighting for her life. He fought back the tears that threatened to fall and made his way back to his chair. He crossed his arms on the bedside and lay his head atop his forearms, taking back his position as her protector.

* * *

From the observation room, Carter and Mitchell stood watching their dear friend yell at thin air, and talk to 'his subconscious' as he said.

"He's cracked" Mitchell stated, crossing his arms. "The poor guy has absolutely lost it"

"I know, but what can we do?" Sam asked rhetorically, looking down at the man who she considered as a brother as he drifted back off to sleep.

Mitchell sensed her inner distress and pulled his arm around her, offering her physical and emotional support.

"God only knows" he answered, and together they left the room, turning from Daniel and Vala.


	4. Seven weeks ago

_I'm sorry this chapter took so long, school work piled up and so I've been working from dawn to dusk leaving me no time for creative outlets._

 _Feel free to give constructive criticism on my writing, I want to know how I can improve my style. Here's chapter 4. Enjoy!_

Chapter 4

 _Seven weeks ago..._

It was two days after their mission to Callabrixa, and the entire team -minus Vala, who never turned up anywhere on time unless copious amounts of treasure or her place on SG1 was at stake- had congregated in Sam's lab at the end of the day at Mitchell's request. Cam and Teal'c were dressed in workout clothes, planning to spend their evening sparring together. Sam and Daniel wore civilian clothing. They'd met in order to plan out their weekend, as a team night was long overdue. They were discussing what film to watch: Daniel wanted to see the new release Gods Of Egypt as he figured it would be a good comedy film for the team, whilst Cam and Carter wanted to watch Top Gun, and Teal'c was pouting in the corner, not that anyone would have guessed, because the group immediately shot down his idea of watching Star Wars again, arguing that 'once a month was more than often enough'.

"Well it's majority rules, and since Vala isn't here she doesn't get a say, so Top Gun it is!" Mitchell shouted in victory, throwing his hands up in the air and smiling like a child who'd just managed to convince his parents to have ice cream for dinner.

"So we'll meet up at mine tonight then?" Sam proposed, earning a nod from all of them save Daniel, who held up a finger in objection.

"Actually I kind of have plans tonight, can we make it tomorrow night instead?"

The entire group looked at him in bewilderment; Daniel Jackson having plans outside of work was like seeing snow in August.

"What plans could you possibly have tonight?" Sam said incredulously.

"Hey, I resent that! I do have a life you know!" He exclaimed, making her giggle and apologize.

At that moment Vala blustered into the room dressed in civilian clothing, a simple black tank top and light wash slim jeans paired with some black boots that Sam had bought her for christmas and a leather jacket hung over the crook of her arm, and an excited look on her face.

"Ready for our date?" She asked, smiling widely ass she winked at him.

"It's not a date!" He insists, although even he could see that it was in vain; Cam was rolling eyes, Sam was giggling, and Teal'c's eyebrows raised by 1/8th of an inch.

"Fine, are you ready for our not-a-date-just-two-friends-and-coworkers-out-to-dinner-and-the-film-that-I've-been-dying-to-see-ever-since-I-read-the-reviews-online?" She rocked on the ball of her feet with her hands clasped behind her back in an innocent manner. Daniel rolled his eyes and grabbed his jacket off the chair where he'd left it, and folded it over his arm.

"Come on then" he grumbled, although his mouth twitched upwards and his eyes crinkled slightly as he said it. Together the whole group made their way to the elevator, exchanging pleasant conversation. The elevator stopped at floor 17, which was where Teal'c and Cam exited.

"Have fun kids!" Mitchell threw behind him walked off in the direction of the gym. As the doors closed he added "Use protection!"

Vala turned to Daniel with an inquisitive look.

"What do we need to protect? Should we go get the zats?"

Daniel groaned and hit his own forehead with the palm of his hand while Sam bit her lip, trying not to laugh. Damn Mitchell.

* * *

"Well Daniel, you certainly went all out this time. This place is fantastic! The service is so fast, and the food is delicious!" Vala enthused, staring wondrously at the food on the table in front of her. Daniel sat opposite her, tucking into his own meal vivaciously.

"It's a fast food place, Vala, it's not exactly haute cuisine. I just figured that since we sort of worked through lunch you'd be hungry so here we can get a lot for our money"

"Well you're absolutely right." She took a big bite of her burger and chewed happily, before her face screwed up.

"ATCHOO!" Pieces of half-chewed burger hit the archeologist square in the face, making him recoil in disgust. He grabbed a napkin from his tray and wiped himself off while Vala grabbed one to blow her nose on.

"Lovely Vala, just lovely!" He grumbled as he finished up cleaning himself, scrunching his napkin up into a ball and throwing it jokingly at Vala's face. She batted it away before it hit her.

"It's not my fault!" She protested, picking up her drink and taking a full sip.

They slipped into a comfortable silence, enjoying each others company while they ate without needing to say anything. However Vala broke this silence multiple times by sneezing or coughing, deep moist coughs that came from her lungs.

"Maybe you've caught a cold or something." Daniel hypothesised as they took the debris from their meals to the nearest trash can. "It _was_ very cold and windy on that planet, and BDUs aren't really the most insulating clothing"

"But I don't don't get sick" She retorted."My immune system is stronger than normal because of Qetesh"

They exited the restaurant and made their way towards Daniel's car. A small gust of wind hit them and made her shiver and lean into Daniel for warmth. He put his arm around her as a reflex.

"It's 80 degrees and it's the middle of June, you can't possibly be cold!" He complained nonetheless. He was sure she was making excuses in order to get close to him.

"Well I am!" She angrily replied.

The pair arrived at the car and Daniel opened the door for Vala. Together they drove to the cinema and settled down with plenty of snacks to watch the film Vala had picked out, a romantic comedy that Daniel had no interest in watching, despite Vala's insistence that he would enjoy it. He had no idea why he let her convince him into doing so many things, especially the things that endangered his life. She had some sort of hold on him that he couldn't control. One look at her big green eyes and suddenly he just couldn't resist anything she had to say.

He glanced over to look at her. She had made herself comfortable in the cinema, taking up the seat next to her with her and Daniel's coats and she leant against the corresponding armrest, her legs swung up over his own. She was enthralled in the movie, one hand dipped into the box of popcorn and the other clasped around her drink. A few tears fell down her face in reaction to the scene playing out on the screen in front her. He thought that she'd never looked so beautiful.

* * *

Vala's cold continued throughout the week. It wasn't dire enough to alarm anyone however: with people living and working in such close proximity on a daily basis, bugs swept through the mountain every few months. She coughed during mealtimes, she sniffled throughout mission debriefings, and much to Daniel's annoyance she complained of a persistent headache whilst they were working on translating a tablet found by SG-3 on one of the latest scout missions. Since she was also wrought by sneezes and coughs, she whined every time one of the latter occurred that it hurt her head even more.

"Just go see Carolyn, she'll give you something to help!" He exclaimed after the fifth sneeze followed by an 'ow!' in the space of an hour.

"No! I will not be a slave to medication!" She slammed her fist on the desk in defiance. "I've endured far greater pain than this without resorting to taking drugs and I won't begin now!"

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, a habit he'd quickly picked up around Vala to stop himself from just blurting out potentially hurtful comments. Recently, he'd been doing it so often he was sure his nose would have a permanent indentation in the shape of his fingers.

"It's not being a slave to them if you take some once just to take away your headache" he approached her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness"

She smiled genuinely at him, before her walls went back up and she rolled her eyes at him dramatically.

"Really darling, when am I ever weak?" She sashayed out of the office, towards the infirmary the man hoped, before reappearing in the doorway and grabbing the pack of tissues she'd left on the desk and leaving again.

Daniel rolled his eyes at the action and shook his head. He didn't think he'd never fully understand the woman, and if he was honest with himself he kind of liked it that way.


	5. Present day III

_This chapter is more Cam-centered, because I feel like the relationship between him and Vala was much deeper than the series showed us (all because they didn't want Browder and Black's obvious chemistry to overshadow the Daniel-Vala plotline, I mean really!)._

 _Songs listened to:_

 _Say something - cover by Pentatonix (on repeat!)_

 _Impossible year - Panic! At The Disco_

 _Enjoy!_

"What do you mean, 'It's a no'?!" Daniel bellowed at the top of his lungs. He'd just been woken up so wasn't in the best of moods to start with, and now Cam was really regretting telling him now.

"I mean exactly that!" The colonel answered forcefully, placing his hand down on the table next to the bed and putting his weight on it in a display of pseudo-calm. He knew getting as riled up as Daniel wouldn't help matters.

"Look, General Landry is all for it but the IOA has cut us off because it's an unnecessary risk!" He explained.

"UNNECESSARY? So we're just going to let her die?" Daniel's eyes bulged in disbelief.

"No Jackson we're not, Doctor Lam is going to keep trying various treatments, but as it stands right now, we can't go back to the planet"

"I'll go on my own then!"

"And you won't be let back to Earth! You know the protocol, you know that they'd lock you out and what good would that do?"

Daniel was no longer listening to him. He'd turned his back to the colonel and was pacing around the room.

"They've never liked her, you know? They thought she couldn't be trusted, that she was a liability, despite the countless times she put her life on the line for us, and helped us fight for what was right! I'm sure they were just waiting for an excuse to get rid of her."

"That's not true ! Woolsey actually liked her!" Cam argued.

"Well he's off on Atlantis now isn't he, so what does it matter!" The archeologist was waving his arms around emphatically.

He made a noise somewhere between a growl and a moan and threw himself into the chair that had become his over the past few weeks, and crumpled in on himself. All fight in him had gone, and he ran his hands through his hair before settling them on his face, hiding his expression from Cam. It was as though in a matter of moments he had transformed from the stubborn archeologist that everyone knew and loved to a despaired shell of a man.

Mitchell approached the man cautiously, and bent his knees so that he was squatting at eye-level with him. His hand reached out to settle on Daniel's back.

"I know it's hard, but you just have to have faith. Carolyn is doing the best she can, and Landry and I will keep pushing for the off-world trip, but for the moment that's all we can do. We won't let her die."

Daniel didn't lift his head, didn't move at all. He just sat, head in his hands, his elbows leaning on his knees, looking like a man who'd lost all hope. The very essence of him was gone, and Cam could sense it.

"Just...leave. Please" He asked his friend, his voice monotonous but cracking slightly and the end. Mitchell nodded even though he knew Daniel couldn't see him through his hands, and got up, leaving his friend to wallow alone.

* * *

Cam lay on his bed that night, unable to sleep. The darkness of his room enveloped him, making him feel invisible and safe to express himself, if only within his own mind. He was able to release the thoughts he was pushing to the back of his head.

His thoughts were with his teammates, all four of them. Jackson was teetering in the edge of a major depression, barely keeping it together, Sam was losing herself in her work to distract herself, and even Teal'c seemed to have a depressed aura about him. They were all cranky and snappy with each other, and could barely stay in the same room with each other without starting an argument. His team was falling apart and there was nothing he could do about it.

Mainly he thought of Vala. Poor, not-so-sweet, not-so-innocent Vala. She'd finally found a place to settle, a place to call home after a lifetime of running, and suddenly it's all taken from her. Cam had come to think of her as the little sister he used to wish he'd had. Someone to talk to and have fun with, someone who'd annoy the hell out of him at times but ultimately always had his back. Even his parents had accepted her into their family. They invited her to any family functions, and called her every few weeks to keep up with her. When Cam had called them the week before to tell them what had happened, he could hear his mother sobbing, and he couldn't help but shed a tear himself. It was the only time he'd allowed himself to feel the pain that had been brewing inside him. The connexion to something outside of the bubble that had formed around them all in the mountain gave him an outlet, but as soon as he hung up, he was back to being the rock that everyone needed him to be. Unmoving, unfeeling Colonel Cameron Mitchell. It was wearing him down to the bone, but what other choice did he have?

* * *

He visited his little sister again the next day, waiting for Daniel to take a bathroom break and appointing an airman at the door in case he came back, so that he could have a little privacy. He circled the bed once or twice, taking in the whole scene in front of him. The echo of a woman lying in bed, looking somewhere between sleep and death. The monitors attached to her body made her look more like machine than human. It all got too much for Mitchell, who couldn't stop the tears from falling down his face. He supposed he could only be glad that Vala couldn't see him at that moment, because she'd scoff and call the Tauri a 'pathetically emotional race'. The thought made Cam chuckle through the tears.

He approached the bad and took her hand in his, flinching at the cold that greeted again, he knew that were Vala conscious she would have words to say about the touching. The only time he could remember her holding anyone's hands was his or Daniel's, and only in the context of running away from danger, never just because she felt like being close to someone.

His legs ached, since he hadn't been sleeping he'd taken up running around the mountain complex to let out some of his energy. It didn't really do much except tire his body, his mind however never seemed to be quiet. All ha wanted to do was sit but he refused to sit in Daniel's chair so stayed standing.

He leaned over to press a soft, gentle kiss to Vala's forehead and put his hand on the top of her head before letting out a sigh.

"Some people say that coma patients can hear things going on around them. Then again some people say that's wrong. I don't know what's real or not anymore but please Vala, if you can hear me, move, say something, even just wake up to slap Jackson round the face for being so weak and sentimental. Just do something, because frankly they're starting to give up on you."


	6. Five weeks ago

_Woop, next chapter ! I'm in exam period at the moment (yay.) so I can't guarantee when chapters will be up._

 _Enjoy!_

 _Five weeks ago…_

Two weeks later, and Vala's cold hadn't gotten any better, in fact it seemed to have gotten mildly worse. Her perpetual sneezing and coughing had stopped playing on everybody's nerves and had become such a part of daily life that people simply didn't notice it anymore. Her friends now always carried a packet of tissues on them at all times for when she inevitably ran out. Vala had talked to doctor Lam about her cold, who'd prescribed her some headache relief, cough medicine and plenty of rest. When she'd grumbled about how they don't just have a pill she could take to clear it all up, she'd been met with laughter and claims that unfortunately human medicine was far from advanced enough for that.

Nevertheless she was still cleared for off-world duty, and SG1 was planned another reconnaissance mission to P56-7XD. Vala jumped at the opportunity to stretch her legs further than to the edge of the mountain complex. Although she was technically allowed to go wherever she wanted, she had no form of transport and didn't want to bother her friends, who'd spent most of their time off base keeping up with their lives outside of being interplanetary explorers and defenders of Earth. As a consequence she'd been spending most of her time playing chess, sparring or failing to meditate with Teal'c, who never seemed to tire of her constant state of illness, or at least never showed it.

They all met in the gate room after changing into their BDUs and started chatting about their plans for weekend ahead of them: Teal'c was going back to Dakara, Sam was going to a symposium of loop quantum gravity, Daniel was going to spend all of his time at the library reading anything he could find on Arthur and Merlin, and Cam was going back to visit his parents in Kansas and had asked Vala if she wanted to come with him, an offer she gratefully took without hesitation.

As the Gate began spinning, Vala's head started to ache. The sound of Walter's voice informing them of the locked chevrons that rang through the speakers in the room was deafeningly loud to Vala, and her head pounded with every word. She brought her hands up to cover her ears in an attempt to dull the sound, but it had no effect on the pain radiating through her head. She could see in the corner of her eye Sam and Daniel turning to her asking her what was wrong but she couldn't hear them over the ringing that had started in her ears. She turned to them and the whole world started spinning. She was barely able to walk straight, making her way over to Daniel who happened to be the closest person to her, and she grabbed his arm in an attempt to stay upright. She couldn't focus and could feel a darkness closing in on her. Her legs gave out from under her and she was vaguely aware of the feeling of strong arms catching her as she lost consciousness.

* * *

As she came to the first thing she heard was the beeping of a heart monitor, steady and consistent. After a few moments she could hear the low murmuring of people in the room, although she couldn't make out whose voices they were. Slowly she attempted to open her eyes, but quickly shut them again and groaned at the blinding light of the lamp on her bedside table. She heard a gruff voice apologize followed by the click of the lamp being turned off, so she tried again to open her eyes with more success. The view that greeted her was Mitchell putting down a file -most likely a mission report- on the table before leaning towards her.

"Hey Princess, how you feelin'?" Cam asked.

"Absolutely perfect, Mitchell. As if I would be anything else!" She exclaimed. She pushed herself up into a sitting position carefully, trying not to pull at the tube that was implanted into her arm.

"How long was I out?" She added her voice much smaller and less confident than before. If Cam noticed, he didn't comment on it.

"About twenty minutes, gave us quite a scare there! You're lucky Daniel caught you before you hit the ground or else you'd have a lovely lump on your head!"

"Speaking of, where are the others?" She enquired, looking around the room. She couldn't help but feel a little hurt that Mitchell was the only one waiting for her to wake up.

"Up in Landry's office. We drew straws over who would stay with you. I drew the short one" He joked, the smile on his face letting her know it was in jest.

"Oh ha ha." She responded whilst rolling her eyes. She made her way to get out of the cot but was quickly stopped by a stern-looking doctor Lam.

"Hold up, you! You're not going anywhere until we've run some more tests." The doctor ordered.

"Oh nonsense, even I know why I fainted!" Vala argued back "I've been sick for the past few weeks and my body was a bit worse for wear, so it did like your computer-thingies do when they get overheated, it crashed and rebooted again and now I'm fine!"

"You are not a computer Vala, human bodies tend to be a bit more complex than that. We'll take some more samples and I'll come back with the results as soon as I get them, okay?" She walked off purposefully, Cam watching her leave before turning back to the woman in the sickbed.

"So… Checkers?" he asked with a broad smile that infected Vala, making her nod.

A few hours of checkers with Mitchell later, Doctor Lam came back to Vala's bedside holding a file.

"Well all of your test results seem fine, apart from a slightly raised blood pressure but that's to be expected. Therefore you can leave the infirmary and rest in your quarters but until I give you the all clear you are not stepping foot off this base." She looked Vala straight in the eye and hit her with her sternest doctor glare, the one that made grown men shiver and let Vala her know she meant business.

"Yes yes Carolyn, I will be a perfect angel." Vala said, already hustling out of the infirmary bad and towards the door. She turned back and noticed that Cam hadn't moved from his seat.

"Coming ?" She asked.

"I'll catch you up, I just want to discuss something with the doc" Mitchell answered, shooting a glance at Carolyn.

"Suit yourself" Vala couldn't help but smirk as she left the two behind in the infirmary. They really weren't fooling anyone.

* * *

The next few days went by frustratingly slowly for the SG1 team. Following the grand old SGC tradition of 'no man left behind', the whole team had been put on imposed downtime while Vala was off-duty. They were anxious to get out and spread their legs on a new planet, but they had no plans of doing it without Vala. They couldn't even bring themselves to be annoyed with her because of it, on the contrary they had all become unusually protective of the alien, keeping a watchful eye on the woman ever since her fainting spell in the Gate room. They never left her alone, apart from at night when she slept, making sure to have at least one person with her at all times. Most lunchtimes it was Daniel who joined her.

"So" He started, placing his tray of food down on the table opposite Vala "you've got your infirmary visit today right?"

"Yup!" She exclaimed joyfully. "With any luck Carolyn will declare me fit to work and we can _finally_ get out of here!" She took a big bite of the unrecognisable brown mush on her plate, then made a face and spat it out again. She grabbed the bread roll off Daniel's tray and started to munch on that instead.

"Yeah, I know you've been stuck down here for a while. I feel kind of bad, I could've offered to take you someplace, let you get out for a while" he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's fine Daniel, I know you've been really invested in your Merlin research at the moment." She reached across the table and put her hand on his, eliciting from him a thousand-watt smile. He turned his hand around to thread his fingers through hers. They carried on eating their meals whilst chatting about everything and anything, but not mentioning their hands, still intertwined on the table.

After a while, Daniel looked at his watch and noted that it was only ten minutes until Vala's appointment with the good doctor.

"Come on then, don't want to keep Carolyn waiting!" He said, dropping his fork onto his plate.

The pair got up and grabbed their trays. Daniel turned to make his way towards the clean-up area of the cafeteria but stopped when he heard a loud thump. He turned back to see Vala unconscious on the floor, twitching uncontrollably, blood coming out of her mouth and nose. He ran to her side and shouted for help, trying desperately to remember the first aid he'd learnt over the past decade, but his mind went utterly blank with the view of his best friend seizing in front of him. He could feel people crowding around him, trying to get to her to help, but his body had frozen and he could only watch on in despair.


End file.
